The large crowds that regularly flock to downtown Houston, Texas, known as GreenStreet, call for heightened security measures. However, the 570,000-square-foot mixed-use center needed to balance a high level of security while maintaining an open and inviting environment that accommodates numerous businesses, delivery drivers, service providers and others who need open access to the property.

With an eye towards improving both security and efficiency, the property’s owners decided it was time for a system upgrade.

Choosing Hanwha Techwin

Working with Houston-based Today’s Integration Inc., GreenStreet evaluated offerings from a number of vendors before selecting Hanwha Techwin as its video surveillance solutions provider. The decision was based on the quality, functionality, versatility and expandability of Hanwha Techwin’s products.

Today’s Integration designed an advanced video surveillance solution built on Samsung Security Manager (SSM) video management software. The system allows GreenStreet’s security staff to monitor live and recorded video, control PTZ cameras and communicate via two-way audio from a central command center.

The system employs multiple Samsung 5080R IP dome cameras, SNP-5200H PTZ dome cameras and 6084R fixed cameras. The system’s NVRs are located in a server room and are connected directly to cameras for recording and to SSM for video playback.

Video is transmitted across GreenStreet’s network via hybrid fiber, connecting the multi-site buildings to distribution switches, which also provide PoE to the Samsung cameras also implemented by Today’s Integration, Inc. providing a turn-key solution.

Implementing New Security Measures

When vendors, contractors or service providers arrive at the bay doors, they press the intercom’s call button to contact GreenStreet’s security staff at the control center. Simultaneously, a live video feed pops up on-screen in the security command center, allowing staff to see and communicate with the individual at the door. Through SSM, GreenStreet’s security personnel can also enter log notes to maintain detailed activity records.

The system has also proven effective in assisting the Houston Police Department, which requests video from time. Best of all, the video surveillance solution is easily scalable, allowing more cameras and NVRs to be added as GreenStreet continues to grow and expand.

In case you missed it

Application of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning in the physical security market runs a gamut from cloud computing to edge computing. A variety of hardware solutions enable AI to be deployed at any level of a system from the cloud to edge devices such as security cameras.
Smarter AI-Powered Applications
A distributed structure can incorporate cloud computing and edge computing. It extends the Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm from the cloud, to an edge network of on-premises video recorders and servers, and further to edge devices like the security cameras. The three-layer architecture all supports the goal to build a new class of AI-powered applications, being even smarter and faster.
A combination of in-camera video analytics and deep learning capabilities in the cloud can improve video analyticsA combination of in-camera video analytics and deep learning capabilities in the cloud can improve video analytics. Cameras can be equipped with basic video analytics, and they are tied into a cloud infrastructure that provides additional deep learning algorithms. The cameras provide computer vision pre-processing, with the bulk of detailed analysis happening in a neural network in the cloud.
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The software-as-a-service (SaaS, or cloud) model gives companies the resources to improve deep learning. Systems are more accurate and can scale better and faster, using a larger data set from multiple customers accessing the cloud-based system. One customer benefits from another customer, and all the knowledge is aggregated together.
Distribution Of Data From Edge To Cloud
Cloud computing allows users with various computing capabilities to store and process data either in a privately-owned cloud or on a third-party server located in a data center. However, with the computing business becoming more and more versatile and complicated, the demand for data processing performance is even higher. In the process of data transition to the cloud, cloud computing consumes tremendous network resources and time, which all result in network congestion and low reliability.
Distribution of data throughout a system, from the edge to the cloud, relieves pressure at any one point
Distribution of data throughout a system, from the edge to the cloud, relieves pressure at any one point. With AI algorithms woven into edge devices, only selected information such as an individual or a vehicle in a video image will be extracted and sent which significantly enhances the transition efficiency and reduces the network bandwidth, while still sustaining high quality and accuracy.
The Cloud Adds AI Capabilities
The cloud provides additional data computing capabilities required for AI and deep learning applications. A single Amazon Web Services data center has between 50,000 and 80,000 servers. All told, observers estimate Amazon Web Services may have between 3 million and 5 million servers. The other major cloud services — Google, Microsoft, VMware, Citrix and others — add additional millions of servers.
Amazon Web Services offers a broad and deep set of machine learning and AI services for a business
AWS (Amazon Web Services) offers a broad and deep set of machine learning and AI services for a business. In effect, the service puts machine learning in the hands of any developer, enabling them to build, train and deploy machine learning models.
On behalf of customers, AWS is focused on solving some of the toughest challenges that hold back machine learning from being in the hands of every developer. Capabilities are built on a comprehensive cloud platform optimized for machine learning with high-performance and no compromises on security and analytics.
Advantages Of Edge Systems
Deep learning and neural network computing are everywhere. They are now widely available in on-premises computers, in systems embedded in edge devices, and even in the cloud.
The edge is particularly important in the video surveillance market, enabling systems to function despite any bandwidth or latency issues that would limit the effectiveness of a central server-based system. Edge-based functionality also limits concerns about the privacy of information and eliminates dependence on the availability of 3G connectivity.
Edge computing makes it possible to ensure data is more private, rather than having it reside in a private or public cloud
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a very computational-intensive process, and doing that processing at the edge avoids the need to do it centrally, whether in the cloud or in an on-premises computer. In the case of video cameras, in particular, there isn’t enough bandwidth to transfer video data across a network infrastructure to be processed. Half the populated world has Internet speeds of less than 8 mbps, which can’t possibly handle the level of data required for new intelligence applications.
Latency is another advantage of intelligence residing at the edge. Applications increasingly require little to no latency (less than 200 milliseconds), and transferring data to be processed elsewhere takes time.
Edge computing also makes it possible to ensure data is more private, rather than having it reside in a private or public cloud or on premises. Higher computing ability and efficiency of embedded systems at the edge are paving the way for physical security devices with intelligence far beyond what the industry now has to work with.

If you’re heading to ISC West in Las Vegas this year, it’s helpful to acknowledge immediately that there’s no way you can experience all aspects of the show. Just not enough time and too many options. Once you give up on seeing everything, you can immediately lower stress. But you also raise the stakes in terms of picking and choosing exactly what you have time for – or want to make time for. Hoping to help out as we all set our ISC West priorities, here are some ways to make the most of ISC West.
Get There Early
If you think the show starts on Wednesday (April 10), you have already missed the boat. Wednesday is the first day of the ISC West Exhibition, but there is a whole day of conference programming the day before – on Tuesday, the 9th. So plan to arrive early for conference sessions such as the End User Physical Security and Strategic Management tracks, a whole day of presentations by the PSA Security Network, and many other conference sessions.
Learn From The Best
You can also learn about Body-Worn Cameras for Government Personnel, School Safety and Private SecurityWant to hear about Taming the Surveillance Data Monster? There’s a session on Thursday. Want to learn about Establishing a Corporate Drone Program? That session is on Wednesday the 10th. They’re among the wealth of information-sharing sessions at ISC West. You can also learn about Body-Worn Cameras for Government Personnel, School Safety and Private Security; 3D Virtualization for Physical Security; and Using Enterprise Security Risk Management to Define Security's Value.
Plan For The Future
So much at ISC West is geared toward the future – new opportunities, tomorrow’s hot new product, and the start of business ventures that will be profitable for years to come. Some of the conference sessions are especially forward-looking, too, including a session on Thursday about the Stadium of the Future. A session called Getting Smarter and Safer: The Campuses of Tomorrow is on Wednesday, April 10.
Another Wednesday session is Meet the Jetsons: Understanding the Promise and Challenges of Smart Cities. The Vision of the Future of the ISOC (Intelligent Security Operations Center) is on Thursday, as is the Smart Home of the Future session. All in all, ISC West can help you focus on the future in a big way.
Meet Someone New
Programs like SIA’s New Product Showcase can help, by recognizing innovation in a variety of product categoriesISC West sometimes emits the vibe of a yearly reunion of friends (who happen to be in business together). It’s great to see old friends again, but we shouldn’t miss the chance to meet new people, too. There is a multitude of networking events related to the industry’s big spring gathering, so the opportunities to expand one’s network and meet new people are abundant.
Making the most of them takes effort, and some level of strategy. And there are also other, not-so-obvious moments to make new friends and acquaintances – whether it’s sharing a taxi or waiting for the next session to start. Bring a lot of business cards
Find Something New
The chance to view industry innovation is a huge draw of ISC West, but it can take discipline to separate the wheat from the chaff. The latest-and-greatest could literally be anywhere on that big trade show floor. Programs like SIA’s New Product Showcase can help, by recognizing innovation in a variety of product categories.
The announcements of winners will be made on April 10, and, historically, these awards have gone to some of the newest and most innovative products at ISC West. A What’s New at ISC West session on Wednesday can provide additional guidance.
Do Good In Addition To Doing Well
A 10-year tradition at ISC West is the Security 5K/2k Run/Walk, a charity event benefiting Mission 500’s fundraising efforts to assist children in crisisISC West is all about business, but there’s also a specific opportunity to help make the world a better place. A 10-year tradition at ISC West is the Security 5K/2k Run/Walk, a charity event benefiting Mission 500’s fundraising efforts to assist children in crisis around the world. Why not avoid a late night on April 10th and rise early on the 11th to be a part of a remarkable event that has united the security industry to provide aid for children in need?
Say Thank You
Showing gratitude is an under-emphasized opportunity at ISC West, where the promise of new fortunes can eclipse our successes of the past. We will all see colleagues and friends we have been doing business with for years, so what better time to express a simple ‘thank you’, buy them a drink, propose a toast, celebrate? Helping to set a tone of gratitude is the ‘Official ISC West Customer Appreciation Party’ on Thursday. Parties are one way to say thanks, and a heartfelt verbal expression is another. ISC West will provide plenty of both – and they’re not to be missed.

Cybersecurity continues to be a major theme in the physical security industry, but effective cybersecurity comes at a cost. Higher cost is contrary to another major trend in the market: lower product pricing, which some have characterized as a ‘race to the bottom’. Chinese manufacturers, whose products tend to have lower prices, have been the target of cybersecurity concerns and even a government ban. So what is the overall impact of cybersecurity on pricing trends in video products? We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: Are cybersecurity concerns slowing down the ‘race to the bottom’ (i.e., the dominance of lower-cost cameras)?